Electrical connectors with a plurality of ports, which are sometimes referred to as headers, are used to connect plugs (or sockets) at the ends of two or more different cables. U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,255 shows an electrical connector with two ports, that can be mounted on a pressure-tight wall such as an outer wall of a vehicle transmission. There are some applications where electrical connectors of this type are required that have three (or even four) ports, with a set a contacts at each port and with each contact at a port connected to the other corresponding contacts at the other ports.
It can be difficult to provide multi conductors that each connects three terminals at the three ports, without interference (engagement) of one multi conductor with another. U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,217 describes an arrangement wherein the axes of three or four different ports all lie on a common horizontal plane, with one terminal at each port connected to a corresponding terminal at each of the other ports. This is accomplished by staggering the contacts so no two contacts at a port lie in a horizontal row. Customers who purchase such connectors often wish to receive connectors where there are horizontal rows of terminals in connectors that have ports lying on a horizontal plane. Although such interconnection can be made by wires, low cost manufacture and ruggedness require that the multi conductors be constructed of sheet metal. A connector with at least three ports lying on a horizontal plane, with at least one horizontal row of two terminals at each port, which had sheet metal multi conductors for connecting a terminal at each of the ports, would be of value.